Gun Found in Frazier Park …Hear Phone Tip and See Video

Image 1 of 5Kern County Deputy Isaac Ramos discovers a plastic bag containing a gun and a note on the grounds of The Mountain Enterprise after an anonymous caller left a ‘breaking news’ message with the newspaper at 245-NEWS.

Image 2 of 5The gun and the note left in a plastic bag on in front of the office of The Mountain Enterprise. Management had been concerned that a gun might have been left on the grounds of Frazier Park School December 17 after a man was seen brandishing a pistol there, but no gun was found after he was arrested.

Image 5 of 5Phillip Turner, with a felony conviction (and therefore forbidden to have a firearm), was tasered and arrested after allegedly being seen with a gun on Frazier Park School grounds December 17 and failing to comply with orders from officers near his home on San Emidio Way in Frazier Park.

Phone call received at The Mountain Enterprise on December 26, 2011 indicating that a gun had been left outside the newspaper office.

A suspect is tasered by law enforcement officers in Frazier Park, California at about 5:45 p.m. on December 17, 2011, after he appears to be unwilling or unable to follow instructions from an officer speaking to him on a megaphone. [video by The Mountain Enterprise]

By Patric Hedlund with reporting and photos by Pam Sturdevant

The Mountain Enterprise received a breaking news alert at 661-245-NEWS (6397) at 10:50 a.m. Monday, Dec. 26 to say that a gun had been found in the caller’s yard. A male voice said he had put the gun in a plastic bag and deposited it on the newspaper’s property.

The Mountain Enterprise had reported Saturday, Dec. 17 that Phillip Turner was allegedly seen with a gun on the grounds of the Frazier Park School before he was arrested that evening. Newspaper management was concerned that a loaded gun might be found by a child, and might pose a threat to public safety.

After being tasered and arrested, Turner, 40 (who has 23 court records for drug, alochol and battery charges) denied possessing a gun. Only a tomahawk was found in his van.

Kern County Sheriff’s deputies were alerted to the anonymous call on December 26, and Deputy Isaac Ramos arrived to walk the newspaper grounds with Pam Sturdevant, the newspaper’s office manager. Within minutes the plastic bag, a gun and a note were discovered on the Mt. Pinos Way side of the building. It was taken into custody by law enforcement.

The note said "Crazy guy threw this in my yard Saturday. No court." It was written on white paper folded with the gun in a black trash bag and tied.

The gun’s registration has not yet been traced, Sgt. Mark Brown of the Frazier Park substation said. There is no confirmation that it is Turner’s. See the video and hear the phone tip here (at right) with this web report.